Why Is Kofi Kingston Feuding with Wade Barrett?

Remember how the World Heavyweight Championship feud between Alberto Del Rio and Sheamus didn’t seem to do much of anything for either guy?

Well, there is a new WWE rivalry that seems to be doing the same. It’s the Intercontinental Championship feud between Kofi Kingston and Wade Barrett.

I’m a big fan of both of these rising superstars, so it’s hard for me to be uninterested in anything that they do, especially when both are involved in the same angle. But from the moment this rivalry started, I found myself not really caring too much about it.

While I love seeing two talented stars like Kingston and Barrett get some well-deserved TV time, the problem I have with a feud between them is that I don’t see any way in which it will do anything but keep both guys at a standstill.

I thought the same about Kingston when he first won the Intercontinental Championship from The Miz a couple of months ago. Sure, it was nice to see him win another singles title, but it’s his fourth run with the Intercontinental Championship in his sixth year with the company.

Is that really progress or just lateral movement? I’ve got to go with the latter.

Kingston has stayed in pretty much the exact same spot throughout his entire WWE career (not that that’s a particularly bad spot to have), and now, he finds himself feuding with Barrett over the same Intercontinental title (although different in design) that he dropped to Barrett back in early 2011.

The fact that this is a rehashed feud doesn’t bother me all that much. Rehashed feuds work all the time. It’s that this is a rehashed rivalry with the same Intercontinental title at the center of it. The only difference is that it’s nearly two years later.

Doesn’t that seem like a tremendous waste of both guys and, in particular, Barrett?

Just a few short months ago, the WWE was airing weekly vignettes promoting Barrett’s return. All indications were that his return would come accompanied with a monster push that many fans feel is more than warranted.

While Barrett hasn’t exactly been treated like some slouch when it comes to the booking of his character lately, it’s not like he’s been booked all that well, either. His feud with Kingston is his first real storyline since he came back, and it’s not the World title or main-event level feud that most expected him to be having.

Is the Kingston/Barrett feud simply a lateral move for both superstars?

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Is the Kingston/Barrett feud simply a lateral move for both superstars?

Yes

76.7%

No

23.3%

Total votes: 746

That seems like such a monumental waste of a tremendously talented guy who hasn’t really been given much of a chance to make a name for himself in the main event picture since his days as the leader of The Nexus in late 2010. It has, of course, been an even longer absence for Kingston, though.

Despite consistently being one of the WWE’s most popular performers over the last several years, he hasn’t been given a shot at the main event since his late 2009 feud with Randy Orton that took him to the very brink of WWE Championship glory. Yet, here we are nearing 2013, and Kingston’s stuck in a feud that is going to end in one of two ways: With him either retaining or losing the Intercontinental Championship.

If he retains it, I guess that’s fine. He’s a great fit as a midcard champion, after all.

If he loses it, there’s nothing overtly wrong with that, either. But then again, that would likely result in Kingston dropping down the card and Barrett taking a step down the WWE ladder when he should be moving up it.

Although I could watch Barrett and Kingston wrestle all day, I just can’t help but ask: Is this feud anything more than two guys who should be moving forward actually staying at a standstill?

Probably not.

Drake Oz is a WWE Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter!